La Scala

Florentina

Florentina

Community Member
Jun 15, 2013
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La Scala, the world famous opera house in Milan, is a huge attraction for tourists. I was wondering if the people living in Italy feel the same passion to attend operas and ballet concerts in this renowned building?
I visited La Scala twice. From the outside, it does not seem to be an outstanding venue, but once inside, a new world unfolds. :-)
 
I haven't been there yet but I've seen pictures on the 'net.
I find it fascinating from the outside too, especially at night!
Then I saw some pictures from the inside on the internet. It's so beautiful! And so big!
I have been to Milan before but I only had time to visit the Dome and to walk a bit around the city. Then I had the train to catch and said that I'll come back to see more of the city but I never did :( It's been a while now.
 
I have been to Milan a few times already, and I see something new with each visit, but to date I was unsuccessful in my attempts to see The Last Supper painting at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. It was either full or closed each time I was there. I will have to book tickets online and in advance.


Where in Italy do you live, Rosie?
 
I live really close to Milan, actually! That's the irony, I'm practically 2 steps away from it but I never get to see it as a tourist.

Want to know an even bigger irony? I was in Milan today! But the traffic was awful!
There were 2-3 cars on one lane, everyone changed lanes as they pleased, when I saw what was in front of me I self-face-palmed (I hope you get the joke). There was a sea of cars in front of my eyes... terrible! So, there was once again no time for me to stop and admire or visit a thing or two in this city.
 
I did get the joke ;). The fortunate thing about being tourists is that we travel by train, arrive at Milano Centrale and walk to a hotel close to the station. Then we quickly unpack, go back to the station and take the city trains to all the tourist attractions. There are no traffic jams or us.


By the way, what is the city trains called? In London it is called the Underground, and in Paris we take the Metro. If I remember correctly, there are only 3 lines in Milan - Yellow, Green and Blue?
 
The city trains are called "Metropolitane". The colors are 3: yellow, green and red (you almost guessed it right :D)

The M1 (red) connects the city from the north-east to west. Here it divides into two branches, one to the north-west and another to the south-west.

The M2 (green) goes from the north-east to south. Its northern terminus are Gessate (in the municipality of Gessate) and Cologno Nord (in the municipality of Cologno Monzese). The southern terminus are Abbiategrasso) and Milanofiori Assago Forum.

Last one, the M3 (yellow) goes from north to south without ramifications, and its terminus are Comasina and San Donato (in the municipality of San Donato Milanese).

The 3 lines meet in a few points of the city as well.
 
Thank you Rosie, the information on the Metropolitane is quite helpful. I had no idea of the directions of the M1, M2 and M3. I just pinpointed a place on the map and then asked the ticket office what color line I had to take, and in which direction. I once tried to buy tickets from the machines; I finally succeeded but could not understand a word Italian which made it quite a challenge.
 
I would love to see a performance at La Scala some day - I'm an opera fan and a classical singer myself, so I feel it's one of those places that I uts visit some day, like a kid of singer Mecca. I've heard it's quite brutal to be a performer there though and that the audiences are very tough!
 
That is fascinating information, cefmac. I never thought the audience would be difficult. I suppose the audience is tough on the artist in terms of talent, meaning they will boo him/her if the performance is not on standard?
 
Macy said:
That is fascinating information, cefmac. I never thought the audience would be difficult. I suppose the audience is tough on the artist in terms of talent, meaning they will boo him/her if the performance is not on standard?
Click to expand...

Yeah, precisely. You really need to be one of the best to sing at La Scala as it's known as one of the top opera houses in the world (along with the Met in New York, Covent Garden in London, Sydney Opera House etc.), so I guess the audience have high expectations and if a performer isn't up to standard (even if it's down to illness) then they're heavily booed. I guess also because Italy has such a strong operatic tradition that they have very set ideas about what is the right and wrong way to stage an opera, whereas in countries like Germany, it can be pretty wild.

I read the opera singer Renée Fleming's autobiography and she claimed that La Scala was one of the toughest places she's ever sung!
 
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